by 417 – KOA. Back-in site. FHUs. Bath house was okay – had to keep hitting shower button. Big holiday campground – narrow roads inside the campground – lots of new rock on roads. SL was minimal, cell service was okay. Weather was mostly cool and somewhat stormy – black flies were brutal. First time the Adirondacks area in NY. Lake Placid was a nice town. Great scones and hot pastry at Bluesberry bakery. Dinner at Smoke Signal. Enjoyed visiting the museum and various venues for the 1932 and 1980 winter olympics. Drove out to Tupper and Saranac lakes – snacks and coffee at Origin Coffee. Another rails to trails bike ride from Saranac to Lake Placid.
416 – Little River State Park. Back-in site – T39. No services. Did not use the bath house or the dump station. SL was minimal, no cell service. Road into state park was combo of hard packed dirt and broken pavement – hard to navigate inside park and disconnect jeep. First time to VT. Really enjoyed Stowe and Waterbury. Visited Trapp famiily resort near the ski resort – had pastry and looked around the views. Good beer at The Alchemist Brewery. Dinner at Aladdin – good veggie med food. Good bbq food at prohibition Pig. Visited Ben and Jerry’s ice cream – went on tour and enjoyed ice cream. Bought vermont maple syrup from farm near stowe. Bought local hot cider donuts and hot cider at Cold Hollow Cider Mill. Drove to Burlington – great rails to trails bike ride along lake champlain – would like to spend more time on the lake and the Green Mountains.
415 – Interlake RV park. FHUs. SL was good, but cell service spotty. Most of the sites were tiered – we were in a clear area near the office. Bath house near rec center was okay. First time to the Hudson Valley. Toll across the Hudson River – did not have the transponder positioned correctly so we ended up paying higher rate. Except one day, the weather was somewhat wet and stormy. Really enjoyed visiting Rhinebeck. Really good bakery at Bread Alone. Visited the town of Poughkeepsie – saw the local college students on a beer crawl thru town. Great rails to trails bike ride across the Hudson River – had coffee and snacks at Underground Coffee and Ales in Highland village. Visited FDR and Eleanor’s national historic sites at their houses. Visited the CIA – culinary institute of america campus twice – bakery and then a multi-course meal at Bocuse french restaurant prepared and served by students – it was a great experience. Met up with Patricia for a nice visit and good meal at Cinnamon Indian Cuisine.
414 – Russell Brooks. Site 16. 30-amps and water – had dump station. Bath house was okay. Really narrow and rocky internal roads. Site next to large stream. Meadow like. SL was good, but no cell service. Really enjoyed the town of Roscoe and the other townships in the area. First time to the catskills area – did not go fly fishing due to cold and wet weather and too few days in the area. Dinner at the Northern Farm House Pasta. Mother’s Day brunch at a family owned cafe called xyz. Good dinner at The Junction. Distillery tastings at Do Good Spirits. Visited Bethel where Woodstock happened in ’69 – also went to the Food Channel cooking demonstrations and tasting at the art and event center – really enjoyed the food tastings. Bought flies and map at the local fishing store. Visited local farmer’s market where we bought local apples and cider. Visited Alpaca farm to visit the animals and store.
413 – Old Mill Stream. Part of a dutch amusement park. FHUs. Pull-in site facing a farm field across a stream. Site 208. SL was pretty good, cell service good. Beautiful country side around Lancaster and the various villages in the county. Visited farmer’s market in Lancaster as well as East Petersburg. Visited a couple of stores and covered bridges in the southern Amish loop. Also, visited several covered bridges in the northern loop. Rails to trails bike ride from Lititz to Ephrata. Coffee at scratch bakes, pretzel at julius sturgis, ice cream at fox meadows creamery and cheese steak sandwich at captain gus’s steak shop.
Boondoggle – did not look at records. Took jeep to Mavis for differential and transfer case fluids – only about 60 percent of time used. Also, Mavis was about 33 percent higher than last maintenance in california.
412 – KOA. Very nice rural campground. Pull-in site. Nice view of the pond. FHUs. SL and cell service were good. Road into the KOA was really narrow. Visited Hugh Mercer Apothecary and civil war park in Fredricksburg. Listened to music at Colonial Tavern. Lunch at Eileen’s Bakery and Cafe.
Smog check for the Jeep, paid registration for Jeep. Smog checks not available in every county in VA.
411 – Lake Gaston TT. Site 40. 50-amps and water only. Did not try SL, cell service was minimum. Bath house was barely okay. Visited Paul and Jan. Dinner at their house. Dinner at our RV followed by sunset pontoon boat ride afterwards. Paul helped with tools and materials to re-build shelf for batteries.
410 – Camp Hatteras. Site 45. FHUs. Back-in site. Premium site facing sand dunes. SL and cell service good. Bath house nice, but a little dated. Rather cool weather and windy. Went to Hatteras to ride bikes – great apple ugly pastries at Orange Blossom Cafe and Bakery – good breakfast sandwiches as well. Incredible amount of kite surfers along OBX.
409 – Whispering Oaks. Site 7. FHUs. Pull-in site looking at pond. SL and cell service good – site in open area. Do not know if there was a bath house. Took e-bikes to Greenville Bicycle Company to remove thru-bolts in both front tires.
Hastings Ford – Vista oil change at 72,769 miles.
408 – Hunting Island SP. Sites 189 and 122. Water and 50-amp electric sites. SL was okay on 189, did not try on 122. Cell service was good. Great beaches. Good visit to Beaufort. Listened to really good music with okay food at Hemmingway’s Bistro. Really hot and humid weather.
407 – Jekyll Island Campground. F loop. FHUs. Thick tree coverage. Sites were somewhat crowded. One of the bath houses was nice. Ten dollar car fee each entrance to island. Not many restaurants or bars on island except the hotels. Lots of beaches on ocean side. John got 24-hour bug for a few days. Suzanne went on bike ride around historic section of island. Suz’s bike got flat front tire. John went on bike ride after return from Little St Simons Island.
Left Felix in RV whilst we wend to lodge. Took boat to Little St Simons Island. Private island, but there is an easement with Nature Conservancy. 2x daily naturalist led excursions. Food was pretty good. Weather was fortunately good. Animal and scenery was awesome. We took a short drive and walked down historic part of St Simons Island – would like to go back and spend more time in the area.
406 – Huguenaut Memorial Park. Site 42. 50-amp electrical only. Good bathhouse. SL and cell service was good. Went to downtown Jacksonville for doctor appointments – for Suz and John. Drove out to Amelia Island where we had drinks and late lunch at Salty Pelican bar n grill. Did not pull over for total eclipse since we were on I 95 and it was a partial eclipse in our area.
405 – Savannah County Recreation Area campground. Site 18. Right next to the water. Good SL and Cell service. Went to Fort Pierce for saturday farmer’s market. Went out to the outer islands for bike ride – drinks and snacks at Little Jim’s Bait and Tackle on the channel. Took ebikes out to the other outer island for another bike ride – met up with Big Wave Dave and his friends at Square Grouper Tiki Bar then went over to Pie Hole for Pizza – long wait but they gave us a beer and dessert for free.
Oil change for the Jeep at Valvoline oil change – about 91K miles – April 2024.
404 – Venture Out. Site 382. Beautiful views. Site was basic, with concrete in poor condition, no landscaping. SL was good, verizon was okay reception. Weather ranged from great weather to stormy weather – incredible rain, thunder and lightening storms. Temps ranged from mild 70s to hot and humid mid 80s. Great time with Graham for a few days. Great time with our dear friends Susan, Sam and Pearl. Lastly, another great visit with Peg and Franz along with her sister Deb. Franz made a really good seafood dinner at their condo on duck key. Took Graham downtown for nice walk and lunch at Moon Dog Cafe – okay dinner at Boondockers restaurant where we listened to live music. Went fishing on Sam and Susan’s boat multiple times, harvested shrimp from their boat dock. Went bike riding with Sam and Susan on Cudjoe, Sugarloaf and Pigeon keys. Went on boat tour with our Minnesota friends on Matecumbe key then drinks and food at the squared grouper. Dinner at Geiger Key, Burdines, Kayla Island Eats, Cafe Sole, Santiagos Bodega. Great lunch at Irie Island Eats. Bike ride to the blimp on Cudjoe Key with Susan, Sam and their daughter’s family, then coffee and breakfast at the Morning Joint. Watched a couple of sunsets with Sam and Susan near Mallory Square. Took our e-bikes into Key West and rode around the outside of the island – snacks at the Salty Frog, then a great early dinner at Sandy’s Cafe where we had the best cubano sandwich. Trivia night at the local KOA with Sam and Susan. Got to meet Jack n Chris who own the rv site where Sam and Susan stay. Suz had multiple water and land yoga classes. Was able to get tickets for Dry Tortuga NP, but decided not to go due to bad weather and high seas – walked Duvall Street and had breakfast at La Grignote.
A few days before leaving, we discovered that the chassis and coach batteries were way below correct volts. Replaced chassis battery from Napa auto on big pine key – expiration of previous battery was nov 2019. Need to troubleshoot converter to determine why it is not keeping coach batteries fully charged whilst using shore power. Also, applied temporary fix to secure the metal brace for the batteries – rust and vibration must have weakened the end area so that it broke off.
403 – KOA. Tight site, but okay, being a angle site. Good SL and verizon coverage. Bath house was older, but clean. Went to Cirque Du Soleil to see ECHO – great show. Graham stayed in the RV for a few days whilst we were in Cancun. Graham took us to downtown Ft Lauderdale for dinner at Boathouse at the river side – watched big boats on the river – walked along the area.
Cancun – stayed at Royal Solaris for Gabby and Jeremy’s wedding. Had a good time.
402 – Midway national park campground. 50 amp but no water or sewer. SL was good, verizon was okay. We did not check out the bath house. Visited Naples and Marcos Island. Good lunch at Turco Taco. Went on wet land nature hike with ranger – was a lot of fun.
401 – KOA. Site 36. Back-in site. Lots of nice flora around site – one of the more private sites – away from the busy street. Cell service is good, but did not try SL due to tree canopy. Bath house is nice. Visited Tarpon Springs where there is a big Greek presence – sponge diving business center. Purchased pastries from Fournos. Good dinner at Mykonos Greek restaurant near the water front. Visited the outer banks from Clearwater to St. Petersburg before seeing BAZZAR from Cirque du Soleil – later dinner at Hawkers Asian street food – good food but the kitchen was really slow due to take-out orders. Went to Honeymoon Island SP for a nice bike ride and visit to the beach.
400 – Rainbow Springs State Park. Back-in site. Site 36. Cell service not good, but SL surprisingly worked in spite of trees. Sunny weather for first 2-days. No canoes at our site, so drove to the head waters location and rented a canoe for a couple of hours. Drove to Crystal River at Vintage on the 5th for a really nice dinner to celebrate John’s 65th birthday. Drove to Ocala to have Brick’s Bicycle to test John’s e-bike – looks like TCU should be replaced even though the issues are intermittent – they performed the diagnostics for free. Nice breakfast at The Gathering Place. Visited World Equestrian to see the horse jumping center – fortunate to see actual competition. Purchased french desserts at the hotel on site. Rained 3rd day that we visited Ocala.
399 – Coastline RV Resort. Back again. Using new reservation from 2023. Site 120. PT site with partial ocean view. Good cell and SL service. Arrived on a really nice day – drove to Port St Joe for a really good valentine’s day dinner – Provisions dinner. Coastline had many activities this trip – may come back next trip but Carrabelle RV Resort or St George SP look good too. Bike ride in Eastpoint with coffee at Bayside Coffee. Went to St George Island for bike ride – cloudy and cool day. Bought redsnapper from Island View Seafood market. Friday night entertainment at the west part of the resort. Saturday and Sunday were raining – went to High Five Dive Bar for afternoon live music. Last two days were sunny, but low 60s during day – nights have been cold. Went to Carrabelle for bike ride – disappointing lunch at A Taste of Korea – it moved from food truck to restaurant. Visited Apalachicola for late breakfast at Cafe Con Leche then visited St George Island for beach walk and reading – missed out on Tamara on the Go food truck. Would like to eat at Biscuit Factory next trip. Our friends suggested Owl Cafe. We enjoyed seeing all the stores this trip – last time was 2021 and covid had many stores inaccessible.
398 – Topsail State Park. Site 112. Finally made it. Really lucked out getting this site. Like the area, will try to come back. Verizon and SL both work in spite of tree coverage. Bath house is okay. There is a nice cafe on site with coffee and beer. Weather was rather cloudy, windy and cool – rained with T and L. Last day was blue skies with no winds. Went to Bistrology breakfast and brunch – very artsy coffees and breakfast food items. Drove out to 30a, but it was dark and windy for our visit. Coffee at Badass in Grayton Beach area. John’s e-bike TCU had challenges with updating the display – tried to test TCU battery and it lost all power for a couple of hours – may have been related to humidity in the gulf states.
397 – Bay Palms RV Resort. Site 31. Back-in sites. Cell and SL service good. Really long drive today – I 10 road backups in two different spots – added at least an hour or so to our journey – had to setup in the dark. Bike rack on the jeep was damaged slightly when a car rear ended us in NOLA backup. Discovered that passenger side fog light cover was broken.
396 – KOA. Back again. Bath house was okay. Long drive from Austin. Bought lots of Boudain balls and sausages from Billys next to the KOA. Bought propane from KOA. Need to add jeep length when booking PT sites. Too many trees to try SL – used cell hot spot instead.
395 – Mckinney Falls State Park. Back again. Site 011. Good prices, but had to pay extra for jeep each day. Good site for cell and SL services. Long drive on 290 due to all the new construction west of Austin. Met up with our friends Bev and Jerry – had a great time. Went to Hecho En Mexico for a great lunch, then Suds n Monkeys for dinner and music bingo. Went to their daughter’s house to see a fire show. Next day, we to Salt Lick BBQ for really good BBQ. Visited Rainy St downtown Austin, but it had changed quite a bit and the crowds and cold weather discouraged our visit.
394 – Hilltop rv resort. PT site, bigger sites. Clean bath house, but older. On hill top, windy. Quiet.
393 – Hacienda Rv Resort. Back-in special. Decided to try something different than KOA. Verizon and SL good reception. Nice bath house. Sparky’s in Hatch closed today.
392 – Lazy Days KOA. Back again – convenient location. Back-in site located in the back section – Cheryl and Ron were across the street for one night. Clean bath house, but a little dated. Met up with our Canadian friends in Rincon East – Ann and Bob as well as Trisha and Greg. Went to dinner at JoJos restaurant with Cheryl and Ron – followed up with our favorite Tres Leche cake from Postella Dolce. Good dinner at Tacos Apson. Need to get Barrio Breads next visit. Took Vista for service appointment at Carl’s RV. Shopping at REI and Macys for walking shoes and linen jacket. Had the jeep windshield replaced after major rock hit it in Yuma.
391 – Sans End. Back again. Suz and John had teeth cleanings with Dr Yasmin again in Los Algodones – John had gold crown re-attached at Baja Dental – referral from Sue and Mike. Had a great BBQ dinner at Dirty South BBQ – some of the best brisket we have ever had – unfortunately, we passed a truck coming out of a farm and a huge rock hit the jeep windshield and caused a hole and crack. Picked up a new rv propane detector from amazon locker. Replaced the two Vista’s coach batteries.
390 – Springs at Borrego. Back again. Great catching up with Beth and Steve, Ann and Tom as well as Sharon. Glad to join arm chair yoga and water yoga again. Enjoyed the many friend meals as well as multiple music events. We invited Sharon to be our guest at several concerts in the Torres Room and outdoor pool area.. Several nice bike rides. Good dinner with Ann and Tom at new Epicurious social club in town. Visited Indio again for shopping. Visited El Cajon to pickup flag pole buddy for starlink pickup – also amazon locker pickups. Had a good visit on Coronado island – went to lunch at Lola 55 tacos and cocktails afterwards . Several dinners with Beth and Steve and Kirby. Nice snacks and drinks with Sharon. Met Cheryl and Ron from BC. Concert at the Art gallery in town. Beth had mentioned that the rv resort now allows package pickups.
